Archive for the ‘Vocalise’ Category
The Passion of Joan of Arc
When Renée, sometime known as “Maria”, Falconetti’s long hair was cut off, she wept. That was the beginning of her journey in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc. Composer, Richard Einhorn was so captivated by the film he wrote music to accompany it called, Voices of Light. I hope you […]
What Does Vocalise Look Like?
The Oxford Companion to Music defines a vocalise as, “A melody sung without text but to one or more vowel sounds.” A vocalise can be used as a mere exercise for the voice or as a song without words in the case of Rachmaninoff’s famous Vocalise. Rameau, Lully, Vaughn Williams, Debussy, Villa Lobos, Ravel, Faure […]
De Mi Alma Latina (From My Latin Soul)
Aside from devoting an entire hour to birthday tenor, conductor, and impresario Plácido Domingo, I want to blog about one soul recording. Maestro Domingo was born 71 years ago today in Spain. His parents, zarzuela singers, something like Spanish operetta singers, in the late 1940’s moved to Mexico and formed their own zarzuela company. Domingo […]
Fiesta Magnificat
Composer John Rutter has a way with music and words. Rutter’s description of his Magnificat is delightful and compelling as is the work itself. Though the Magnificat is not necessarily Christmas music, its perfectly suited to the season. I hope it warms your heart and mind on tonight’s Vocalise!
Alexander Nevsky
It’s hard to believe it was 8 years ago that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov, performed Alexander Nevsky accompanying the 1938 film. As I recall it was a cold November night as I made my way to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. I remember it being cold as there was a […]
English Cow Patch
Though I am most grateful to Jonathan Palevsky for filling in on Vocalise, I also secretly know that he loves doing so. Why wouldn’t he? It’s a blast of a show to host! He also likes to pick a theme such as sickness, death or love. Last Saturday when Jonathan filled in for me, he […]
Delicious Terror
My mother’s favorite recording of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is the 1960 performance with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She fancies tenor Rudolf Petrak’s roasting swan. As a five year old this album cover elicited delicious terror in me and so did the music! As it played, I studied the cover shivering at the […]
